Portable gun bore cleaner



2,897, 25 Aug. 4, 1959 D. F. GooDwlN ErAL 5 PORTABLE GUN BORE CLEANERFiled Nov. 23, 1953 INVENTORJ. Do/wmp Gaoaw/N Jamv X. Soffcv/CH UnitedStates PatentI z ,sgitszg PORT??? $031?, Cif-EWR Dengldsle i GeefiwiniMayfield Heights; arid, .10h11A Xe Sorkgrielsttiexeiegsi, Ohie mheetheNevehher te; 19.53,. Serial. Nh- 323,621

' (c1.- ile-anims) Ths sveiitiegieieteele. iihisrsiveiiigeiits.iii.v eeiesgigg. i

imp .engtriigte ...grtieiiigrlrtg e. neriehle i ghe here. elegheffk@neef Ohjeetsi et the, Presehtinyegtieli isr` terregigi. here el.. ees'yestrie@ hy-itheihimter a gun barrel bore cleaner having an elongatedbgdysubstentielht iigyieidige. i11- et. leestv ehe. exist` direction s0that. een lassiigiefefstreight end. t eed, position when.v

gg A furthetghieetfeifthe. Pres-eht ieyenhehiste v1srev1-eie f eliiiglbeirelh .eesetfetth igthenpreeeding paragraph re 011 d! saisi.eigngetesibeds/hes 5.. t. .c y al `barrel cleaning membercoactabletovyith` the otherv end fett seehgihgethe eppgsite. esteistggetherl when in-.eeiled ne" fer eghrehiehteerrying.

A hiitheri-ebeetet'the present invehtigh is te. pre: vide s gun hemel.vhere eleehet ehereetetizedhy. its. stiiietiiral '.lieitx, eesgieiiiyYOtihehttEsetIire. egse. ef. bl gf its.A parte, streng. ansi. sturdynature, and.

titte useiugder'mehy eeiiditiegs 0 erfeettl .es Otthis igteiitieh.resisie .in .the arrange.-

si d et... .etperts .es eeieyigg. egt. theirepf preprlgtefiinetiensQtheteheets emifesivegtegeset this, iesfeiitiehwill. be. elipeteht theemitirse-Yigg tir.swings` and. descrip;

...the es ti feethtes will.: he setferth. inthe.

heh ansi .eu-mfp l Fig. 2 s a side elevationalview, of thegunbarrel'borev, cleaner eeiled inte e compact ferm fer esrryhig` withtheends Adetachably connected together andi/with con; veillentcarryingfpouch dot-)dashed aroundit within which the cleaner may becarried; while Fig. 3 isan enlarged View of a modified form ofvbarrelcleaning member for the right hand `side of` Fig. l showingthe member.end spiing in. pesiteh for assembly- `Before the barrel bore cleanerhere illustrated in*l speciicallydescribed, itis to be understood thatthe iriv ventionf hereininvolved `is not limited to.L thestruturaldetailsforvarrangement of parts here shown since'strucf tures embodying..the.present inventionl may take various. forms. Also, it is tobefunderstood that the phraseology or terminologyJ herein'employed isfor. purposes of deyscriptioil` 'and` not oflimitationb sincethesfeoplev of the present invention is denbted hy.- the appended.eisige- Thse feml Iar with vthisffartwill `recognize that thisinveiitieh Iav'hfe applied'i iheh'y weis; hilt. Weheye chosen ytoillustrate the samefas agun barrel boren :leanei 0f portable forniregdilyl useable"j for'cleainglltheibarrel I2,897,525 Patented Aug. 4,1959 AFic 2. belegte site, .shetggn pisteL- .re..\m.1r .=r,4 er otherfirearm.

e spQrthiehs Although th Fling .hhhthg it seihetihes .heeehies desirable.and ab.- Sahitely heeessery te. eisen. the gun barrel here, inthe fieldfet ffghseemp eiidhegie itthe barrel here he.-

eomeseleggei with mild 0r. snow-:during hunting, the

O rk lJq'atpicrlils for to return back to his base camp foi-fthe.solepurpose of cleaning the barrel boreY Arigid cleeiiing` rodisufhciently long to clean either a orificio;

shotgunfcan'present a very diflicult problem because it,

is long, Sti and awkward to carry. The present invention'problem byproviding a gunbarrelbore eleehee 0i e Portable and eempeet heturereadily and.

easily cerried by Jthe hunter inhis hunting coat and alwaysreaudy forinstant usewhenever the needoccurs The'.` gun barrel borecleanerincludes a `body means or member ltieaphleet essiiihihg estraight end tefetid.-v

position, kas .shown'in Fig, 1, when used for barrel clean;

ing` Thisfis disclosed infthcpresentinvention asobeingv en elehgeted.heheei spring; having e right hand he1iss. HQWeYer, ahy4 elorigettedyhedy ineens may he suitable. it.

it is substantially' tinyieglding in atfleast one aiiiall direc.,-v tionand is'laterally'bendable'for.ceiling. Bor example, a hexibie.shaftwohld he satisfactory- "Ihis axial-rigidity Permits thesiriring'"10..,te eet sa eieeriing red being..v

pfiished through or pulled through the gun barrel bore since`thespringhaswsuiieientstiiness. Also, theout-y side demeterf the.spriiig 10. heyhe desighedte hev only slightly .sriia1 1er thanwthebarrel bore so thatwhen it is pushedthrough the vbarrel bore, it willreceive;v

However. theleterel shPPgrt item the beitel here' springmay'hayesuzcient strengthvso thateven though its outsidediameterissubs'tantiall/y smallerthan the barrel pushed through; thebarrel bore.

One. orl both ends of the spring or bodylrneans lillhas bfolv'e,l itWillfliave. suiicientVV stiiness for cleaning when aV memberconncted'thereto, either in the form ofv aV complete. barrel cleaningmember, Stich as a brush, or-in the fornpof amember constructed to serveas at least aportion ofy a barrelcleaning member, such as Aan eye orenlarged vhead Von an axially. extending cylindrical portionffor.receiving acle'aning patch in aV conventionaltn meeneemt-eheh the. eye0.1i overA the-heed Although. various types. of barrel cleaning membersAcouldibe used,V

we lievei chosen to ttacha'cleaning patch tipl or `tip4 patch cleaner.141. to one end and aV wire bristle cleaning.v

brushjiz fjrhe'ptherj end.l i

The in errber1tIll otfthebanelcleaning member on one end heissen. eye11e. thereih termed es. ane'lengated aperture in the-present disclosure.When the cleaner is being, Iusedrbypulling through thcibarrel, a pieceof cleaning..

cloth. O riotherv material may be. threaded through this eyeV 11a.Whenthe cleaneris being used for push-through` cleaning, the cleaningcloth can be threaded through the eye in the same manner or a circularcleaning patch can be placed over the right end of the member with bothbeing telesoped through the barrel by moving the cleaner right'in Fig.l. l I I `"A 'ivire bristle'. Greening brush, 12 forming the. barrel,

eieegtheeiethheieh the. other eige; is, maggie-etere@ twistiee wie theel1.2.4, 1.2.1 heheehy tege er with billstleste extee'siige.. letefsllytherehetweee se thee. uit

. generally eleehed.. 0111i!" et, home :0h ih the hunting cmpvand het.in vthe held the resulting brush the bristles have the helical formshown in the drawings.

These members 11 and 12 on opposite ends of the spring senve anotherfunction in addition to the cleaning function when the spring 10 is inits straight end to end position in Fig. l. Since the spring islaterally bendable, the spring may be coiled into a compact form forcarrying. However, it is desirable to have means provided on the cleanerfor detachably connecting together the opposite ends thereof so that thecleaner not only Will form a compact package for carrying but alsoprevent the danger of having the end ung dangerously outwardly by therelease of the spring. This latter action would not only preventconvenient carrying but also subject the hunter to the danger ofphysical harm by the spring driven members 11 and 12. Therefore, afterthe spring 10 has been coiled together, the ends thereof are wrappedaround or interlocked with the coiled form, and then the ends of themembers are detachably connected together to assume the Fig. 2 positionfor convenient and safe carrying in the eld until barrel cleaning isrequired.

The ends are detachably but rmly secured together by eye 11a of member11 and any eye engageable portion on the opposite end of spring 10, suchas a hook or even an elongated portion like a length of Wire or acylindrical cleaning tip with an enlarged head, as brought out in moredetail in the next paragraph. In the present disclosure, this portion islocated on the outer end of the brush '12. Here, the component wires 12aand 12b of the brush are formed from a single length of wire twistedupon itself with an end loop 12e being integrally formed at the outerend thereof. A portion 12d is notched out of this loop so that it formsa resulting hook for detachable engagement with the eye 11a.

However, this portion need not be formed by a clearly bent hook on theend of the barrel brush member 12. For example, the left end of thespring 10 in Fig. 1 may have a projection thereon detachably engageablewith the eye 11a so that the cleaner has only the one member 11 thereonfor barrel cleaning. Alternatively, the member 11 may be omitted and theeye or a suitable hook may be formed from the last coil of the spring 10on the right-hand side thereof for detachable engagement with theportion on the end of the brush. Also, if the neck of member 11 betweeneye 11a and threads 11b or the neck behind the enlarged head on theother type patch cleaner is suciently small in diameter, it may beinserted through gap 12d into hook engagement; also, if the enlarged endis suiciently small on any of these type patch holders, it may beinserted into the bore of loop 12e even though notch 12d has not beencut. Also, the por tion on the end of the brush need not be bent into aclear hook shape. For example, one or both of the Wires 12a, 12b mayextend axially and straight beyond the end of the brush bristles 12e toform a portion detachably engageable with the eye 11a and held inposition by the resilient spring 10 tending to uncoil the cleaner fromthe Fig. 2 to the Fig. 1 position. Many other forms of this inventionwill be readily `apparent to anyone skilled in the art and it should beclearly understood that any form of member, serving as at least aportion of a barrel cleaning member could be used at each end of thespring 10 but we prefer `and have found most satisfactory resultsobtainable with the structure disclosed herein. Also, the cleaning patchmay be held in any suitable structure during rifle cleaning, whether itbe eye 11a, hook 12e or an eye or loop formed by wire 12e without notch12d.

After the cleaner has assumed the position in Fig. 2, it should bereadily understood that the whole unit can be put into -a pouch 13 beingformed of lcloth, plastic, or other suitable material and having anenvelope portion 13a closed except for an open top which may be closedby a bendable flap 13b and then locked in position by a snap fastener13C being connected to the front wall of the envelope 13a. This pouch 13may be easily carried in the pockets during hunting.

If desired, a detachable clip can be wrapped around the coils of spring10 at the upper right in Fig. 2, opposite the bore cleaning members 11and 12, but we have found that this is not necessary when the membersare properly formed for the detachable engagement of the opposite endsof the gun barrel cleaner.

Whenever the rie or shotgun bore becomes obstructed in the field, thehunter can quickly and easily remove the pouch 13 from his pocket,remove the gun barrel cleaner from the pouch, detach hook 12C from eye11a, unwind the interlocked ends of the spring 10 and then carefullyuncoil the spring so that the gun barrel can be readily used by eitherpushing through or pulling through the gun barrel bore. The cleanerassumes a straight end to end position, as shown in Fig. 1, but eitherthe barrel cleaning brush member 12 or the member 11, adapted to carry acleaning patch for barrel cleaning, is readily usable for cleaning thebarrel. Spring 10 is substantially unyieldable in at least one axialdirection and preferably in both axial directions so that it will havesuicient stiffness for the cleaning operation. When the hunter isfinished cleaning his gun, he merely reverses the above-mentionedoperation and then inserts pouch 13 in his pocket for convenientcarrying While he continues the hunt.

It has been found desirable to quickly and efficiently attach themembers 11 and 12 to the opposite ends of spring 10 in an inexpensivemanner. Both of the members have identical male threads formed on thespring end thereof with member 11 having threads 11b formed integrallythereon while brush 12 has an adaptor 15 with male threads 15a on oneend and a sleeve 15b on the other end telescoped over and secured to theend of the twisted wires 12a, 12b.

Since both threads 11b and 15a are identical, only one need bedescribed, for example threads 11b. The thread has for proper interlockthe same hand as the spring helix, in other words, the helix of thespring and the helix of the threads are both advancing in the samedirection. The inside diameter of the spring is approximately0.004-0.005 inch larger than the outside diameter of the thread. Thethread 11b is telescoped into the bore of the spring 10 within a halfspring coil short of the end of the thread. Then, the unit is heated toabout 480 Fahrenheit for about twenty minutes so that the steel springwill creep forwardly to its nished position at the end of the thread andthen will firmly grip the thread so that the member 11 is not easilyremoved therefrom. It is frequently necessary to use a Spanner wrench orequivalent to remove each member from its securing engagement with thebore of spring 10. Although other methods of manufacture may be used, wehave found this to be the preferred method.

This gun barrel cleaner' can of course be made in different outsidediameters sc that each one will be especially designed for oneparticular rifle caliber, shotgun gauge, or other ire arm bore size.

Also, a modified form of member 11 may be used. The member 11 in Fig. lis machined from a solid piece of stock pierced to form the eye Iwhilethe modified form of member 121 in Fig. 3 is formed `from one continuousand integral length of spring wire wound into the form of a spring 11bwith the right end thereof extended toward the right and bent back onitself to form eye 11a with its distal end extending between springcoils 11b. This member 11 is usable in the same manner as a cleaningpatch tip or tip patch cleaner. Also, the spring 11b' forms a thread onits periphery with the same hand as the helix of spring 10 with anoutside diameter substantially the same as thread 11b. Hence spring libcan in the same manner be threaded in the direction of the arrows intothe bore of spring 10 and heated to cause creeping to secure the partstogether.

Various changes in details and arrangement of parts can 4be made by oneskilled in the art without departing from either Vthe spirit of thisinvention or the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A gun barrel cleaner comprising an elongated body means substantiallyunyielding in at least one axial direction and laterally bendable forcoiling, a member on one end having an eye, and a barrel cleaning brushmember on the other end being formed by twisting two wires helicallywith bristles extending laterally therebetween, the end of said wiresextending beyond the end of the bristles and forming a portion fordetachably engaging 'with said eye carrying member, whereby said cleanermay either assume a straight end to end position when used for barrelcleaning or be coiled, when not in use, into a compact form for carryingwith the ends detachably connected together.

2. A gun barrel cleaner comprising an elongated body means substantiallyunyielding in at least one axial direction and laterally bendable forcoiling, a member on one end having an eye, and a barrel cleaning brushmember on the other end 'being formed by twisting two wires helicallywith bristles extending laterally therebetween, the end of at least oneof `said wires extending beyond the end of the bristles being bent intothe form of a hook to detachably engage in said eye, whereby saidcleaner may either assume a straight end to end position when used forbarrel cleaning or be coiled, when not in use, into a compact form forcarrying with the ends detachably connected together.

3. A gun barrel cleaner comprising an elongated body means substantiallyunyielding in at least one axial direction and laterally bendable lforcoiling, a member on one end having an eye, and a barrel cleaning brushmember on the other end being formed by twisting two overlapped portionsof a single wire helically with bristles extending laterallytherebetween, the interconnected ends of said wire portions extendingbeyond the end of the bristles lbeing integrally connected to form aloop, a portion of said loop being notched out to make the two wireportions two separate wires and to form a hook to detachably engage insaid eye, whereby said cleaner may either assume a straight end to endposition when used for barrel cleaning or be coiled, when not in use,into a compact form for carrying with the ends detachably connectedtogether.

4. A gun barrel cleaner comprising an elongated helical springsubstantially unyielding in at least one axial direction and laterallybendable for coiling, a member on one end having an eye, and a barrelcleaning brush member on the other end being formed by twisting twowires helically with bristles extending laterally therebetween, the endof said wires extending beyond the end of the bristles and forming aportion vfor detachably engaging in said eye, both of said membershaving threads of the same -hand as the spring helix and tightlyinterlocked therewith to securely lock each member to one end of saidspring, whereby said cleaner may either assume a straight end to endposition when used for barrel cleaning or be coiled, when not in use,into a compact lform for carrying ywith the ends detachably connectedtogether.

5. A gun cleaner comprising an elongated body means having opposite endsand substantially unyielding in at least one axial direction with saidopposite ends detached for gun cleaning and laterally bendable forcoiling when not in-use, a first member on one end, a second member onthe other end having a hook portion for detachably connecting in hookingengagement with said iirst member so that said cleaner may either assumea straight end to end position when used for barrel cleaning or to becoiled, when not in use, into a compact form for carrying with the endsdetachably hooked together, at least one of said members beingconstructed to carry a cleaning patch, said rst member being said onemember and having an eye for receiving said cleaning patch and forengagement with said hook -for said hooking engagement when not in use,said body means being an elongated helical spring, said lirst memberbeing formed from a single length of bent wire separate from said springand said second member and bent at its outer end into said eye and bentat its inner end into a helix of the same hand as said spring helix anddetachably screwed into the bore of said spring to detachably lock withthe helix thereof.

6. A gun cleaner comprising an elongated body means having opposite endsand substantially unyielding in at least one axial direction with saidopposite ends detached for gun cleaning and laterally bendable forcoiling when not in use, a irst member on one end, a second member onthe other end having a hook portion for detachably connecting in hookingengagement with said iirst member so that said cleaner may either assumea straight end to end position when used for barrel cleaning or becoiled, when not in use, into a compact form for carrying with the endsdetachably hooked together, at least one of said members beingconstructed to carry a cleaning patch, said body means` being anelongated helical spring, said one member being a solid member piercedat its outer end to provide an eye -for receiving said cleaning patchand having threads at its inner end of the same hand as` the helix ofsaid spring and detachably screwed into the bore of said spring todetachably lock with the helix thereof.

7. A gun barrel cleaner comprising an elongated helical spring with aright hand helix, a member separate from said spring constructed toserve as at least a portion of a barrel cleaning member detachablyconnected thereto on one end, said member having a threaded end with aright hand thread interlocked with said spring helix, said member havingan eye with said member and eye formed from a single length of bent wireterminating at the end remote from its thread outwardly beyond the innerend of its thread.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS106,328 Coester et al. Aug. 16, 1870 514,514 Stafford Feb. 13, 1894727,995 Olson May 12, 1903 809,880 Woolldridge Jan. 9, 1906 966,100Johnson Aug. 2, 1910 1,093,066 Morrison et al Apr. 14, 1914 1,621,095Utter Mar. 15, 1927 2,153,388 Newman Apr. 4, 1939 2,330,602 Le TourneauSept. 28, 1943 2,544,847 Malesky Mar. 13, 1951 2,630,590 OBrien Mar. 10,1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 7,162 Great Britain of 1915 862,664 France Dec. 16,1940

